Before experiencing DMT I had tried on multiple occasions to induce sober hallucinations.
Each time was a failure. My mind was never clear enough and my thoughts would always drift to everyday life.

My experience with the amazing molecule that is DMT is still very low.
I haven't yet tried a dose over 15mg freebase. And that was only once. I've had a few life things hinder my lust to jump right back into experimenting.

So last night I was laying in bed in the dark and had an urge to try inducing a trip.
I closed my eyes and took long, controlled breathes. I put slight pressure on my eyelids with my thumbs.
With only a few minutes I started to notice a ring of very bright white light around the edges of my view.
This light spread and filled my sight. It soon began rapidly flashing.

This is the point I started to experience visuals that were on par with low dose(10mg) DMT trips.
It was mind blowing.
I saw a grid like, morphing pattern I had see whilst under the influence.
This faded and a pure, beautiful blue colour spread across my eyes. I noticed a very intricately designed 'mandala' appear in the blue. It looked generic Mayan looking but as I looked closer it was covered in circuitry type patterns. It was really really vivid and detailed.
This blue faded out and a green smoke appeared. The smoke cleared to reveal what looked like a windowed view about 5m in front of me. Everything outside the window was green. The scenery was very clear and detailed.
I watched all this unfold in complete awe. It was indistinguishable from the visions I've had with DMT.
This all faded slowly and I soon started to lose grasp of all the details I had seen. Just like with DMT.

I feel DMT has unlocked an ability I previously didn't have.
Has anyone else experienced this?

yes, many here have

Eye contact, mirrors, or staring at some complex scene (combined with breathing and some sort of weird mental shift) bring it out the quickest for me

Breath work can do it for me. If I am able to really let go of thinking and observe.

Ditto!

I have to a small degree by staring into a mirror at low light. The key is not to blink and stare with an unfocused gaze. It is quite difficult and your eyes might start stinging.